From its premise alone, "Purple Hearts" already starts off with a rocky start. Call it unique but this is probably the first time we've seen characters do something illegal on a feel-good romance drama. That's bold definitely but it doesn't really work out too well. This film was just all over the place with its pacing and too predictable with its major narrative beats.
Cassie Salazar (Sofia Carson) is an aspiring musician but is struggling to make ends meet. Her diabetes has caused her to be down in debt and unable to pay for her insulin medication which runs the risk of killing her. Luke Morrow (Nicholas Galitzine) is a former drug addict and now a Marine trainee. While he has been clean, his past life is still catching up with him especially that he has yet to fully pay his debt from his former drug dealer Johnno (Anthony Ippolito). A chance encounter at the bar that Cassie works at changes the course of both their lives as both agree to fake their marriage to get extra benefits such as covered health insurance and more take-home pay from government.
One day they hate each other and the next they love each other. Rinse and repeat several times and you already have a gist on what kind of a rollercoaster ride "Purple Hearts" was. Although this sounds great, the execution really wasn't because these ups and downs between Cassie and Luke was haphazardly developed and the chemistry between Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine was as topsy-turvy as its narrative. In between scenes, we did get a lot of Sofia Carson singing. This was a little bit too much at times but we have to admit that a lot of the entertainment that we got from this film was Sofia singing outstandingly well on-screen. But here's the thing, when the soundtrack trumps your writing, isn't that already a red flag that things aren't too great for your film? Just don't expect too much from "Purple Hearts" and treat it as your run-of-the-mill Netflix release then you'll probably have some emotional fun from it.
Purple Hearts Movie Review: Achy Breaky Heart
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